Cav's Place

Let’s say that the author‘s heart was in the right place, and he did make some excellent points and put a few other interesting issues up for debate, but he mixed that with a bunch of truisms and plenty of other ideas that are just plain wrong, and then buried it all under an entire heap of horseshit… And using the term may be insulting to the digestive system of horses.
If you roll up your sleeves and get digging, you can get some good things out of this book, but it’ll take wading through an attempt to challenge a myth, taken to ludicrous extremes that may unfortunately be believed by many but which are probably recognized as laughable by anyone who’d ever willingly read something like this, by using another that’s just as wrong. Add the hypocrisy of those included rants about prophets and lawmakers while obviously striving to become one and the pathetic attempt at a story and I’ll say you have much better things to do with your time, whether you want to save the world or not.

Rating: 2/5

I like books, but it’s really rare that I’m awed by one, yet this managed that. Authors that try to create original fantasy worlds, with new or at least highly uncommon creatures and systems, also tend to make me raise my eyebrows and think twice, because all too often people struggle to just make something different and forget about making it actually good, but this one is once again an exception, creating a rather unusual world and being brilliant at the same time. And the names of the good characters can still make me snicker when I remember them, long after finishing the book.
There is something to be said about the ending, which features unnecessary scenes but remains forced even with them, and those who are bothered by “perfect” characters will find reasons to complain throughout, yet there’s simply too much done exactly right in here for a few perhaps questionable decisions the author made about a few elements to mar the overall impression. So just read it, all right?

Rating: 5/5

Note: This is the updated version of this quick review. The initial one was posted on June 26, 2006, with a rating of 10/10.

If you haven’t already, have a look at the latest trailer for Elder Scrolls Online and then try to imagine what will it take to top that this year. I for one keep wondering whether certain scenes, particularly those that show faces, are actually filmed, because if that’s entirely CGI then actors really have to fear for their future.
Back to the game itself, as you can see at the end of the trailer, you can now sign up for the closed beta if you are interested, though you shouldn’t also expect to be selected, considering the huge number of applications. In time, especially for the last month before the actual release, they may let in everyone, or at least nearly everyone, and let them actually play the game, but initially they say they’re looking for experienced beta testers to participate in very focused test sessions, lasting only a few hours and dealing with very specific issues, starting from simply creating a character and logging on and then moving on to specific areas, specific quests, the use of specific skills or basic guild interactions.

Perhaps rather strangely, with the obvious exception of the non-disclosure agreement that won’t even let me say whether I’ll be accepted or not without their approval, that sounds rather interesting to me, so I signed up, even if that required me to install Chrome again for it, since they only announced solving the problem that made the process not work for so many otherwise today. The game itself doesn’t have much of an appeal for me, due to reasons ranging from the basic fact that it’s an MMO, to its focus on player-versus-player combat, which I won’t engage in, to the associated costs, but the fact that I tend to be so thorough and nitpick so much means that I seem to be reasonably good at such tests, if I’m in the right mood for it, so why not give it a shot?

Realistically, odds are that there’s no such thing as magic, there are no deities or similar higher entities actually willing and able to directly influence our lives, our thoughts don’t have palpable effects on their own, prayers don’t get answered, wishes don’t get granted, there is no grand design and no purpose outside the one we choose or create ourselves, and all other such things that we believe in just to make our miserable existence more bearable are equally false. And if somehow they are not false, odds are that we still need to work for them, go through extensive training and perform exhausting rituals to correctly use that magic or those thought patterns in order to create the reality we seek, or wish and pray in very specific ways, perhaps make the necessary sacrifices and in all other ways prove that we are worthy of being selected for a divine intervention out of the billions of others with desperate needs and passionate desires.
We believe that it’s possible otherwise, that miracles can simply happen, that the blind forces of chance will just decide to work in our favor sooner or later, that spiritual guardians or other similar entities advise and protect us, that wise and benevolent entities put the current obstacles in front of us for our own good, or perhaps simply that something better awaits us on the other side, at the end of this miserable physical existence, merely because we have to, because otherwise the world would be even more hopeless and depressing than it is now. Thankfully, some of us are rational enough to realize this and act accordingly, seeing these beliefs as options that can’t be clearly ruled out and doing what we can to live according to those of them we deem suitable for us as long as by doing so we don’t harm or otherwise significantly hamper ourselves or others, yet many are either unable or unwilling to do so and end up either striving to impose their unproven and likely unrealistic beliefs on others and harming or even killing those who try to resist or, quite the contrary, unnecessarily accepting a fate worse than the one they’d be able to forge for themselves if only they thought it possible.
If and when we, or at least most of us, will realize this and start taking our beliefs for what they are instead of either what we stubbornly and senselessly wish them to be or what, perhaps even more stubbornly and senselessly, most of us have been taught they should be, there may yet be some hope left for us… Or, quite the contrary, nothing but an endless pit of despair when we realize that there is no hope, no purpose, no explanation and overall no answer, or at least none that we’d be able to accept and live with, to our most important questions, desperate pleas or fervent prayers. But that’s how life is and we have used our beliefs to hold ourselves and each other back for far too long, so this is the risk we’ll have to take if we are to ever move forward.

After writing the previous post, I noticed that the protest I thought was just supposed to take place in front of the theater and be only against the president, being controlled by USL supporters, was in fact listed as taking place on both sides of the road and be against all the major parties, so against the current government as well. How did I misread both the title and the description the first time, I’m not sure, but knowing that USL supporters have been gathering in front of the theater throughout 2012 to chant against the president surely played a large part of it.
Not that it mattered what it was supposed to be about, since my original assumption was largely correct regarding the result, even though the organizers of the 5 PM protest had every intention of using that location to protest against both sides. An USL event was scheduled nearby from 11 AM, supposedly bringing together “the real protesters” from last year, along with a few politicians from USL, to brag about how they took down the previous government and what rivers of milk and honey will flow under their current leadership, so it was entirely expected to have the people attending that walk over to the theater in significant numbers and fortify their position there afterwards, preventing anyone else from using the location to say anything against USL as well.

Personally, after reading that description again and being assured by Alex that the protest was indeed meant to be against both sides, I tried to get to the theater at 5. Obviously, I ran right into a whole crowd of older people who knew nothing but to call for Basescu’s resignation or impeachment and ask for “the orange mafia” to be put in jail, though I was surprised to also notice a few young ones standing somewhere next to the main group, holding a large banner against fracking, which equated Ponta with Basescu. How come they were allowed to stay there, I can’t say, but they were there until Claudiu came at the fountain to properly start the other protest, at 7:20 or so, when they moved over to that side.
Faced with that, I turned around and went over to the other side of the road, at the fountain, where I found Alex and a few others, already temporarily resigned to “the coup across the road”, as he put it. A few steps away there was also a group of football fans, who had apparently announced their intention to participate after I had left home, so their presence was quite a surprise for me. The fact that they couldn’t exactly be reasoned with wasn’t, however, as they had their own issues to protest about, such as a particular law affecting them, plus cursing the president of our Professional Football League every chance they got. When Alex led a chant against the gendarmerie, they shouted alongside him and those of us who took it up as well, which generally didn’t include me, but otherwise they were largely a separate group, often drowned out our own attempts at chants and at some point they even started throwing firecrackers there, right at people’s feet.

That wasn’t exactly a manageable situation, at least not if we wanted to have a real protest there on the issues it was originally supposed to be about, so at some point it was decided to at least make some use of their obvious desire for “action” and head back to the theater, with them at the lead. Once there, we started chanting usual things like “PDL and USL steal by rotation” or adding “Ponta and Antonescu” to the older people’s “down with Basescu”, which obviously made them quickly react. That led to a couple of short speeches from our side, trying to explain to them that we are, or should be, all on the same side, united against those who take away our freedoms, poison our environment and so on for their own selfish interests, regardless of which side of the current political spectrum they’re on, but that was clearly rejected as well.
At that point, the others who were from the regular young protester crowd generally took their banners and hung back, but I stayed with those who pressed on, partly because I went there to protest against both sides, not to allow one to take over the protests and use them for their own gain, and partly due to feeling safer in the thick of it, surrounded by those who’d know their way around pushing and shoving if it came to that, than exposed among a handful of people scattered a few steps away from the crowd. So we traded chants, shouts and places, as we were looking for visibility and the older crowd was trying to surround and hide us, so the cameras won’t catch the fact that some had something to say against USL just as well.
We climbed to the top of the stairs, they formed a wall in front of us; we went around and gathered in front of them, they quickly made their way between us and the cameras; Alex and a few supporters pushed through to sit right in front of the camera people while others surrounded them to stop anyone else from forming another wall, they surrounded us and started chanting “crappy supporters, Basescu hired you”. That actually seemed to be a prepared chant, which surprised me and I was looking for a proper answer, but of course couldn’t find any right away, the only thing I did on my own being to shout that “red and yellow is still orange” at the next chant about the “orange mafia”, seeing as orange is PDL’s color and the two main parties that make up USL are PSD and PNL, whose colors are red and yellow, respectively.

Eventually, we retreated and regrouped in the underground passage, in front of the metro station. The fans, still aching for “action” and throwing firecrackers, immediately started debating what to do next, but I was reasonably satisfied with what we had done already and there was definitely no reason to still feel safer close to them than away, so I hung back with the other regulars as soon as we got down there and waited, first for their decision, which was to go back and try to block the road, and then for the outcome of that, as I definitely wanted nothing to do with it.
I’m actually still not sure what ended up happening, because it wasn’t long before they returned with another crazy plan, which I believe was trying to go on a march to Unirii Square, which I think Alex was trying to talk them out of. However, by then some of the regulars were starting to head back to the surface, to the fountain, and I followed them, noticing that it was around 7:10 and some had already gathered for the other scheduled protest, which was the one I originally meant to go to.

Once there, we had to wait a while longer for Claudiu and Vlad to arrive, and also for the football fans and Alex to join us again, after he had probably managed to somehow talk them out of all the crazy plans they could come up with, but after that it actually worked out quite well for some 45 minutes. We chanted against all the major parties, for a new political class, against the Rosia Montana mining project, against fracking, for freedom and democracy, for better healthcare and education, and so on. The fans still had their own separate chants if given a chance, but the larger crowd of regulars and Claudiu and Vlad’s style of moving from one chant to another quickly didn’t give them so many opportunities anymore, which led to them often joining in and things turning out surprisingly well, actually. I even heard Vlad say that he honestly didn’t expect so many people to attend and things to go so well.
Eventually, around 8:30, after a few minutes during which it was mostly quiet, somebody called the end of the day’s protest, Claudiu said that he’ll go off to some club, and within moments we all left. Some independent journalists were actually pointing out that they just went away for a few minutes to warm their hands while the protest still seemed to be going strong and by the time they got back there wasn’t a single person left around the fountain.

Now let’s see what will happen next, if anything. I’m not a fan of the methods used by Alex and his more “hardcore” crowd, nor am I keen on how the protests they organize turn out, but I’m very much aware that what they’re doing is necessary under the current circumstances, so I may well try to lend a hand again, if I’ll clearly support the cause, believe that enough people will show up and feel that I’ll be able to manage the situation. On the other hand, while Alex, Brianna and the others from that side can’t stand them, the attitude Claudiu and Vlad have and the methods they use tend to make things run quite smoothly and turn out rather well if they can rely on at least a handful of people who truly want to take part and don’t need to actually fight for their right to protest, plus that our views appear to be much more similar, so I’m even more likely to take part in the next events they’ll announce, as long as they’ll be clear events and not daily protests, as it was last year.